The tale of Luega
by Silvergamgee
Summary: Keldon and Cielos move to meet their doom. Perhaps their doom should have thought about who it was dealing with.


This is my first submission of work ever to those whom I don't know. Please read this, review it, and be kind. Thanks for reading my work.

'My name is Luega, and I am here to entertain you fine folk here. For but a few coin, I have come to sing you the sad tale of the unlikely pairing of Cielos and Keldon and their battle with the dark lord of those who are dead.'

_Cielos, the elven fair. His magic slays what the evil dare._

_His lowly spear betrays his pow'r and his hands float like a flower._

_The flame, the bolt, the firey rage; a fool may tempt the righteous mage._

_He shows no fear to sword or spear, and draws his foes ever near._

_Keldon the law of the land, a holy sword in his hand._

_His armor a light through the darkest night, and to all an awing sight. _

_Downtrodden ho! Your fear is near an end I know!..........._

'And so our great heroes, the shining Paladin and the fearless Mage, swore an oath to each other and to their land to stop the evil that spreads from the Cleric of Death. After much searching, our heroes find the lair of Ixador, the death knight and captain of the undead armies that had been ravaging the countryside. His skeletal figure radiated an unholy power beyond reckoning. The burning light in the dead face betrayed a hard smile, and he raised his mighty sword in a bid for his minions to strike.'

"Break high and low!" shouted Keldon, who immediately burst in front of Cielos. This was a well-practiced ploy that the two of them had perfected over the last two years of fighting through some of the grimmest times in the kingdom. Now all that seemed pale to this moment. A wave of zombies protected the death knight and the skeletal form continued to summon even more forces. Keldon ran forth in a charge that seemed to form a cluster of holy power in front of it. At the last moment, he dropped to the ground as a bolt of lightning seared over his head and clove a path through the center of the wave of zombies. Keldon bolted through the gap as the undead filled the opening like water into a canal. This fight would be tough, but he trusted his comrade to stand with him even to death. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cielos put a common spear through the torso of a zombie, and the haft nearly shivered. 'I only hope that this means the end of that bloody spear.' He then swept forward towards the Death Knight, praying for the power he would need to face this most-deadly opponent.

Cielos inspected his spear, and a slightly eerie smile lit his face. His lucky spear which had been with him since he set out on a path to glory years ago was still undamaged. He checked his slim and unarmored frame for wounds and breathed another sigh of relief, for he had dodged yet another bullet. His friend Keldon, who had been fighting by his side for the last year and a half, constantly ridiculed his need to fight with "that piece of rubbish." As a relatively powerful and reasonably wealthy sorcerer, a more powerful weapon was well within his means, but not now. With a few utterances and a quick wave of his hand, Cielos detonated a fireball in the midst of the zombies and decimated their ranks. With a tight smile he thought about how much what he was about to do would annoy the Paladin. He gripped his spear tightly and closed to melee combat.

Keldon hear the roar of an explosion behind him and imagined the zombies disintegrating in an all-consuming wave of fire. With a battle cry that would chill the blood of any living enemy, he cut with his sword in an arc that moved with such swiftness it seemed as if it glowed…and right past his enemy. Ixador spun sideways past the arc of the blade and spun his own blow into the back of the Paladin's head. Stars swam in Keldon's eyes, but he quickly ducked under his enemy's next blow and turned to face him.

Cielos was having no problem dispatching the zombies. They were, after all, so bloody slow that all he really needed to do was to keep moving to avoid an attack. Almost two thirds of the zombies now lay on the ground, some smoldering from lightning, some charred from fire, others skewered by the spear. The joy of battle was with him at the moment. At that moment, he checked on the welfare of Keldon. He nearly dropped his spear. The skeletal knight had his sword raised high for a killing blow, and Keldon had somehow been disarmed. He took aim, charged forward, and heaved his spear forward in a desperate attempt to buy Keldon one precious second to recover. He felt the impact, but no pain from the club he met that was going the other way. A moment before blackness took him, he wondered how could be so foolish as to forget to help his ally and to mind his enemies.

Keldon advanced with a series of wide strokes to keep his opponent off-guard. He kept the pressure up, but he was not reckless. He waited for his opening, a chance to smite this evil being. Ixador, the fallen paladin who now lived as the evil undead. The most evil things ever are not those who have rejected the light from their first moments, it is when they embrace the light to its fullest and then to turn away. And at that moment, he flashed his holy symbol, and the knight quailed for a moment. Keldon surged forth and took a mighty swing. A horrid scream rasped from the mouth of the death knight. Keldon paused for a moment to revel in his victory. And it occurred to him that this was not a scream of death, but of rage. He turned around into the mighty swing of Ixador and was smote across the chest by it. The accursed knight had not killed him, though. He had used the flat of his blade in a taunting manner. No fast death was destined for him if he gave up, he had to fight. Keldon scrambled for his blade as the knight gloated and moved in for the kill, permeated by the strangely muted tone of Cielos' battle cry…

To be continued


End file.
